# William Fraser (bishop of Arichat)

William Fraser (1778 or 1779 Glen Cannich, Inverness-shire, Scotland – October 4, 1851 Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and the first Bishop of Halifax in Nova Scotia from 1842 until the splitting of the diocese into two dioceses effective September 22, 1844, when William Walsh took formal possession of the Diocese of Halifax. Bishop Fraser, however, remains a celebrated figure in the Canadian Gaelic Bardic poetry composed in his Diocese and is still remembered as a legendary strongman in both his native district of Scotland and in Nova Scotia. In both countries, many tales have been collected of his exploits.

## Early life

William Fraser was born in Glen Cannich, part of the wider Strathglass region of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, as the eldest of the 12 children of Scottish Gaelic-speaking parents John Fraser and Jane Chisholm. Like many others throughout the region, his family still belonged to the illegal and underground Catholic Church in Scotland.
After attending an underground Catholic school in his native district, he continued his education at the clandestine minor seminary at Samalaman in Moidart. In January 1794 he began his studies for the priesthood at the Royal Scots College in Valladolid, Spain. After being ordained to the priesthood on 8 Jan. 1804, he returned to Scotland soon after.
According to the oral tradition of Strathglass, which was first written down and published in The Casket in 1908, Fr. Fraser's return from Spain in 1804 was not locally anticipated and he arrived in the middle of the local Highland Games. To the outrage of the local population, Fr Fraser, who was thought to be a "foreign youth", won all the honours in heavy events, including the stone put and the hammer throw. John Fraser, who did not recognize his own son, is said to have shouted, (Scottish Gaelic: "Mac na galla, nam biodh Uilleam mo mhac-sa an seo, cha biodh a dhòigh fhèin aige!", "Son of a bitch, if my son William were here, he would not have his way!")

## Priestly ministry

Following his return to Scotland, Fraser's cousin, Bishop John Chisholm appointed him as an underground missionary in Lochaber. In this wide apostolate, Fraser's duties included overseeing the semi-underground Lismore Seminary and helping to organize what is now St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Fort William.
Fraser proved himself an able administrator and was well-liked by his parishioners. After his kinsman Bishop Aeneas Chisholm died in 1818, Fraser was one of the Highland priests recommended, at a time when the Catholic Church in Scotland was still considered missionary territory, to the Congregation for the Propaganda of the Faith for possible elevation as the next Vicar Apostolic of the Highland District. While Bishop Ronald MacDonald was chosen to be promoted instead of Fraser, having come to the Vatican's attention under such circumstances did his future career well.
Even while working at Lismore seminary, Fr Fraser desired to become a missionary among his fellow Gaels who had emigrated to Nova Scotia, but he only received the necessary permission in 1822. Upon his arrival in Canada, Bishop Angus Bernard MacEachern introduced Fr Fraser to the Canadian Gaelic-speaking pioneer communities of Cape Breton Island and Antigonish County. Fraser was appointed to Mabou and in less than a month received added responsibility for the missions surrounding Bras d'Or Lake. In January 1824 he was given charge of St Ninian’s Roman Catholic Church in Antigonish, where he remained for the rest of his life.

## Legacy
### In folklore

* In both Scottish and Canadian folklore, Bishop Fraser is a folk hero. He is said to have been a man of enormous physical strength and to have been able to break steel horseshoes with his bare hands. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, many legends have been collected of the Bishop's exploits.

### In Canadian literature

* Despite his devotion to the Catholic Faith, poet Ailean a' Ridse MacDhòmhnaill, a major figure in Scottish Gaelic literature and that of Canadian Gaelic, sharply opposed Bishop Fraser's decision to forcibly introduce the Catholic temperance movement into the Diocese of Arichat. In Ailean a' Ridse's 1854 Canadian Gaelic poem Òran dhan Deoch, ("A Song to Drink"), which he modeled after the Gaelic love poetry of William Ross and set to the air Robai Dona Gòrach, the Canadian bard declared himself a believer in, "The creed of Bacchus". Ailean a' Ridse also lamented the loss of merriment caused by the Church's bans against music and alcohol, while also lamenting the damage that he had seen alcoholism cause in his own family and among many other families like them.
* Despite their differing views over alcohol, following Bishop Fraser's death, Ailean a' Ridse MacDhòmhnaill composed the poem Cumha do' n Easguig Friseal ("Lament for Bishop Fraser"), which MacDhòmhnaill set to the air A' bliadhna leum dar milleadh. According to Effie Rankin, Ailean a' Ridse adapted the traditional verse iconography of a Highland clan mourning for the death of their Chief to the Catholic Gaels of what is now the Diocese of Antigonish mourning for the death of their Bishop.